Identified during the scoping activities carried out in 2019 and 2020 by the WCO’s A-CPI Programme within the Directorate General of Customs (DGD) of Tunisia, one of the expected specific results was the creation of a Next Generation Network (NGN) to prepare the next generation and to actively engage the next generation in the fight against corruption and the promotion of integrity.

It is in this context that, on 25 March, a virtual conference on the NGN of the Tunisian Customs Administration brought together some thirty participants from the DGD of Tunisia, the Programme A-WCO IPC and the Canada Border Services Agency NGN representatives who were invited to share their experience and expertise in managing and facilitating such a network.

The conference is part of the Tunisia Customs NGN Activities Plan designed and developed within the framework of the WCO Anti-Corruption & Integrity Promotion (A-CIP) Programme, in response to the needs expressed by partner customs administrations and in accordance with the WCO Revised Arusha Declaration.

At the conference, the much-appreciated intervention of the CBSA NGN team, as well as the many exchanges that followed, enabled all participants, particularly senior managers, the two newly appointed Co-Chairs as well as the future members of the Steering Committee of the NGN of the Tunisia DGD present for the occasion, to reflect on the issues, the objectives and rules of good governance of this innovative entity in supporting the ongoing changes within Tunisian Customs, particularly in terms of organizational integrity.

During the closing remarks, the DGD of Tunisia and the WCO recognized that this event marked the official birth of the NGN of the Tunisian Customs Administration and that the conference was a key step in the deployment of the activities plan that will continue in 2021 by three workshops organized by A-CIP Programme to support the implementation and development of the Tunisia Customs NGN in line with the objectives of anti-corruption and the promotion of integrity.

For more information, please contact capacity.building@wcoomd.org